Scottish Winter – Misty Mountain Hop

Winter-lite on Liathach and Beinn Bhan

13 Feb

The final stretch of the ridge to Mullach an Rathain affords excellent views into Upper Coire na Caime, the Trinity Gullies and the Northern Pinnacles

Last week a sudden change to cold and snowy weather born on easterlies meant deep powder rapidly swamped much of the highlands. With windslab building on north and westerly aspects and many mixed routes buried in unconsolidated snow, big ridges...
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Lean times in Lochan and that other coire

22 Nov

The tricky bit - having stepped left the search begins for useful placements to allow movement into the gully above

People have been out enjoying good early season winter climbing conditions since the start of November, but a few days of thaw put an abrupt stop to that until this weekend. Temperatures dropped sharply mid week and snow showers on...
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Gotta Love Spring – Sunny Curved Ridge, Icy White Line

24 Mar

Sitting at my desk while high pressure brought a week of great weather and climbing conditions to the west coast was torture! Luckily the high was forecast to stay put for the weekend, so it was two relieved climbers who...
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Hit and Miss but Always Stunning in Torridon

18 Feb

Another view of the same section and about the time we realized this wasn't a grade IV pitch...

The West Buttress (IV, 4) rematch was on! Conditions were good, the forecast excellent and schemes were hatched – we would arrive on Thursday night, blitz Beinn Eighe Friday and enjoy two leisurely days of Liathach ice over the weekend....
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Left or Right? Unsure and off Centrist, Lochnagar

1 Feb

A prolonged thaw followed by a few days of stormy weather meant options for winter climbing last weekend were going to be relatively limited. Figuring that the north east facing coire of Lochnagar would have at least accumulated some snow...
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Savage Slit and Silver Linings

14 Dec

Keen as we were to get our season kicked off, it was great to see fresh snow, cold temperatures and a perfect forecast coinciding nicely to give a weekend of mixed climbing action! Being high and exposed, Coire an Lochain in the Northern...
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Winter Lingers on Beinn a’Bhuird

12 May

The start of May usually coincides with mine and Debs’ annual pilgrimage to the wild coires of Beinn a’Bhuird. This majestic mountain is one of Scotland’s most remote and along with it’s neighbour, Ben Avon, constitutes an eastern outlier of...
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West Is Best – Classic Ice on Ben Nevis

15 Feb

The cliffs of Ben Nevis and some of the surrounding peaks are currently in fantastic condition for ice climbing, with many of the classic lines well formed thanks to the gentle freeze-thaw cycles they have experienced. After cancelling our planned...
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Wild ice in a wild place – The Drool, Eagles Rock

25 Jan

After last weekend’s fun but crowded visit to Coire an t’Sneachda, Debs and I both agreed we needed to up the adventure stakes for our next climb. We toyed with the idea of attempting something on the big bad Creag...
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Shadow Buttress B, Bell’s Route

5 Jan

After a very late start to the winter climbing season and just one route in the bag before the holiday period, to say I was desperate for a big winter hit would be an understatement. While I was away for...
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